Serve and protect

Rock ‘n' roll legends often achieve celebrity status by seeking out danger. Live event production crews, by comparison, are often exposed to health & safety risks they live to avoid.

Over the past 12 months, several figures from the live events industry have expressed concern over Health and Safety (H&S) standards in the Middle East citing a lack of enforcement or legal frameworks.

Despite the efforts of many working in the region to ensure the safety of their staff, there is still much room for improvement.

With the typical live events site in the region hosting a number of different contractors, speaking a variety of languages and all boasting varying degrees of H&S knowledge, it's no wonder that production managers get nervous. Their work is made all the harder by a lack, not just of enforcement but of any legislation for the industry whatsoever.

S&S spoke to a number of well-known promoters and production managers who regularly shoulder this responsibility in the Middle East's burgeoning live entertainment industry.

The director of production at Dubai-based events management company, HQ Creative, Jo Marshall, argues that H&S standards do not go far enough to protect the welfare of live events production personnel working in the region.

"The market is growing in complexity faster than any good practise guidelines or legislation can accomodate," he says.

"The most appropriate step would be for the implementation of government standards drawn up by a panel of industry experts, and overseen by an industry-backed organisation.

"The industry should heed the lessons learned by the industry in the UK, where the level of regulation is untenable. Hopefully we can find some middle ground; an effective and practical solution."

As an event management company, HQ Creative staff are not required to possess H&S qualifications, explains Marshall. However, the company does follow strict safety guidelines on site.

"We also employ an independent H&S officer on every outdoor job that we do," he says. "Clients do not fully understand the costs of H&S when looking at the budget for a given job. I would estimate that around two percent of the budget on a medium to large job is given over to ensuring H&S standards are met, with this percentage increasing for smaller events.

"Those responsible for enforcing H&S depend on the nature of the gig, but generally it should be, and usually is, a combination of the production company, the venue and the client. Having said that, the costs tend to come off our bottom line.

Thomas Ovesen, head of AEG Live Middle East, shares many of these opinions.

"As with any other legislation we need to have one government entity handling everything, from the issuing of event organiser trade licenses, event permissions, venue permissions and all other licensing issues.

Such an authority can then easily be consulted by the industry. This might finally lead to an organisers' association. Once the industry, together with the authorities, agrees on H&S standards, policing the rules should prove a relatively straightforward process.

"Some progress is already being made toward implementing this type of initiative. I would expect that the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) will be presenting the industry with at least a proposed H&S/Event Regulations document during 2008.

"Currently in Dubai it seems that some organisers and venues follow a particular set of H&S guidelines using, say, the H&S practices of Australia or the UK without considering local issues. This is not necessarily an ideal solution.

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